‘Accounts’ = Ken Rosenthal?

By all accounts, the Red Sox are working hard behind the scenes to sign one of the two elite free agent outfielders, Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth.

If they are successful, the new contract stands a good chance of becoming, both in years and dollars, the largest free agent deal this ownership group has made.

Indications are that Crawford is asking clubs to sign him to at least an eight-year deal, while Werth is seeking at least six years. The competition among teams like the Red Sox, Angels, Tigers and Rangers for one of the outfielders is expected to be intense. Each player will likely wind up commanding a deal with an average annual value worth somewhere between $16 million and $19 million. If the player winds up “settling’’ for a year less than he wants, then the per-year salary will climb.

A five-year deal for Werth would likely wind up costing at least $17 million a year, and a seven-year deal for Crawford would top that number. Either way, the total value of a Werth or Crawford deal should top the five-year, $82.5 million deal (worth $16.5 million per season) the Sox signed starter John Lackey to last offseason.

The terms of the Lackey deal are believed to be identical to the Sox’ offer made to free agent outfielder Matt Holliday last winter.

“for the record, I prefer Crawford”
x2.
Tim Brown of Yahoo sports just tweeted that the Red Sox reps are in Houston today to meet with Carl Crawford.
I hate the impending huge contract, but since I know they’re going to give one out, I prefer it to be Crawford. Then, let the rest of MLB figure out how to stop the 110 steals between he and Ells next year – provided Ellsbury is still on the team.

Welcome back Paul. And all you SFs. Well…most of you :).
You all in particular would appreciate this. In Cairo for a work trip I arrive at my hotel tonight, turn on the tv, and the first thing I see is a story on CNN-International about how Fenway Park is installing solar panels in an effort to reduce energy costs and become more “green”. I thought the place was pretty green as it was.
And yeah – crawford and ellsbury would be a pretty dynamic duo on the basepads.

I’m at the Flamenco in the district of Zamalek. I’m here for work and we have an office nearby so I stay there alot. Nothing fancy but good internet connectivity, a good coffee shop around the corner, and all-night supermarket across the street for late-night snack runs.

Edes reporting that Theo and Francona left the meeting with Crawford, and flew immediately to Chicago and met with Werth and Boras at the airport there.
Interesting. Things are getting heated up just in time for the meetings.